Song #12: “Tin Pan Alley”

My father had a few blues records around the house, stuff like B.B. King (who I love), but nothing that made me want to dive deep into the blues to figure out what was so great about it. I give it up to Stevie Ray Vaughan for hooking me into the blues like nobody else. And my brother. He played a tape in the car one day that had “Tin Pan Alley” on it and I said, “Who the hell is this?” I couldn’t believe it was Stevie Ray Vaughan.

I heard Stevie Ray Vaughan play Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return),” but I had no idea he could play the blues like this. I don’t listen to him much these days, but his version of “Tin Pan Alley” is the song that got me exited about the blues and led me to discover some really good blues music. You gotta start somewhere.